[Surgical approach to encapsulated follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma: a report of three cases].

The diagnosis of follicular variant of thyroid papillary carcinoma is often difficult with fine-needle aspiration biopsy since this variant contains both benign and malignant follicular structures. The encapsulated follicular variant poses even more difficulty for diagnosis. It is usually agreed that this variant has similar clinical behavior to that of classic thyroid papillary carcinoma. However, some recent cases have been shown to have an aggressive course, leading to controversy as to the type of surgery. We presented three female patients whose results of fine-needle aspiration biopsy were not malignant, but postoperative histopathologic diagnosis was made as encapsulated follicular variant. One patient underwent thyroid lobectomy for a single thyroid nodule, and two patients underwent subtotal thyroidectomy. Upon histologic diagnosis of encapsulated follicular variant, total thyroidectomy was performed in two patients. Encapsulated follicular variant should be borne in mind in patients with a benign fine-needle aspiration biopsy result.